Yeah, uhh, I find that hard to believe. There is no way a minor is facing 20 years even is he is accused of rape.

Not only that, but no judge is going to throw out a deal like that, unless he asks the defendant at the hearing to enter the plea and the defendant flat out says “no, I’m not guilty and I don’t understand the terms of the deal”. Judges cant step in when they think a deal is too harsh. Their role in that situation is purely a matter of due process.

Yes I agree that prosecutors are a major part of the problem, unlike police who bear the brunt of the public’s hatred of the system, prosecutors can act like tyrants and they never get attacked for it, but let’s not tell outlandish stories.

]]>By: MadJayhawkhttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6857145
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:18:04 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6857145The false accuser AND the prosecutor should go to jail. Mandatory sentencing should be banned. Prosecutors use it as a club against the poor and uneducated.

Everyone ignores the prosecutor’s role in this.

I personally know of a friend’s child (15 years old) who was accused of a sex crime and the prosecutor went after him full bore and offered up a take-or-leave-it deal where the kid had to decide on in 30 minutes, like Banks, with only an incompetent public defender there to assist him with the decision. His deal was lifetime label as a sexual predator and 2 years hard time in the worst prison in our state’s system without the possibility of parole or go to trial and be convicted of the crime and serve a mandatory 20 years. The kid, small, unsophisticated, shy, and probably barely sexually mature, was the victim of a girl who was basically a tramp who had no parental supervision. The girl’s mom wanted to tap into the state’s victim fund for 10s of thousands of dollars. The boy had no choice but to agree to the 2 year sentence. The judge, thank God, saw the situation for what it was and threw out the agreement and gave the kid probation. The kid was an honor student and held down two part time jobs to support his family.

The prosecutor should have been fired. The boy is now in college, still working hard, and is well thought of in the community. If the judge hadn’t stepped in he would have been one year out of prison now, probably a career criminal.

Our judicial system is against the poor and the uneducated. Prosecutors can be a evil bunch of people. This type of stuff happens every day in America.

Unbelievable that such an attitude as yours persists. I hope those young men who WERE convicted spend a LOT of time in jail, and have to live as registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

They had the benefit of trial, and of counsel. No one forced them to act as they did.

TKindred on April 4, 2013 at 11:39 PM

They did not have the right to a JURY trial because they were minors. Their case was decided solely by a judge, who faced enormous outside pressure to be harsh with them given the lies being spread about the case online.

A conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, that the girl was so intoxicated that she was unconscious or effectively so. She claimed she had no memory of the events, which doesn’t help the prosecution. So all the prosecution had left was a bunch of kids who wouldn’t cooperate. So what does the prosecution do? It takes the kids who took pictures and video of the girl topless, and threatens to charge them with the creation of child pornography, which can get you 30 years in federal prison, unless these kids testified for the prosecution.

So in other words, the DA says, tell us what we want to hear or we will throw you in jail for a very long time and make you sex offenders for life. So what are the kids going to do? Of course they are going to say whatever the DA wants them to say. On top of that, those kids blatantly lie under oath and claim that they were taking pics of the naked girl to document the crime out of concern for the girl, when the truth is they had turned around and posted it online and sent it around to their friends. The prosecution encouraged these blatant lies to make themselves look good, as if they weren’t actually letting wrongdoers off he hook. uh huh

If anything he got more cocky and self-serving after scooting away from the double murder he witnessed and refused to talk about, leaving two families scratching their heads as to who murdered their sons on Super Sunday in Lewis’ presence and why he would not help id the killers.

the way the NFL always glorified Lewis was nauseating & disgraceful, and now that he’s retired the hosannas will only grow louder and more sycophantic as he will be the hottest “get” on pregame/analysis shows across the NFL network of shows from now until the next double murder he witnesses and refuses to talk about.

I for one will change the channel every time i see him.

Sacramento on April 5, 2013 at 1:59 AM

I believe he was more than simply a witness. More like an accomplice during the act.

Talking about two things is not saying those two things are exactly the same. This is the same kind of hysterical reaction as the SSM advocates getting their panties in a bunch whenever anyone points out that the arguments they’re advancing also apply to polygamy, and many of them apply to pedophilia. They say “you’re equating homosexuality with polygamy and pedophilia!”, which clearly is not what’s being done.

It’s called “compare and contrast” for a reason.

The Monster on April 5, 2013 at 9:48 AM

I’m not “reacting hysterically”. This is-

…Actually-I’d like to see Michael Vick ripped-up by Pittbulls. THAT would be justice.

-which appears elsewhere in the thread.

What Vick did is despicable, but it is nowhere near murder. Yet every time his name is mentioned, someone suggests that he be murdered in some gruesome fashion. That is wrong, and that’s why I objected to the author’s pairing of Vick with a man very much “near murder”.

]]>By: Minnfidelhttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6856378
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:36:19 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6856378Yep, she should have whatever money from the settlement taken back and spend the exact amount of days in jail that he had to endure. I hope he makes the team. He seems to be trying to make the most of a horrid situation. Kudos to him.
]]>By: The Monsterhttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6856210
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:48:29 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6856210

No apologies for objectong to your pairing of the men together; I stand by my assertion, “wah” yourself

M240H on April 4, 2013 at 11:36 PM

Lighten up.

Talking about two things is not saying those two things are exactly the same. This is the same kind of hysterical reaction as the SSM advocates getting their panties in a bunch whenever anyone points out that the arguments they’re advancing also apply to polygamy, and many of them apply to pedophilia. They say “you’re equating homosexuality with polygamy and pedophilia!”, which clearly is not what’s being done.

If anything he got more cocky and self-serving after scooting away from the double murder he witnessed and refused to talk about, leaving two families scratching their heads as to who murdered their sons on Super Sunday in Lewis’ presence and why he would not help id the killers.

the way the NFL always glorified Lewis was nauseating & disgraceful, and now that he’s retired the hosannas will only grow louder and more sycophantic as he will be the hottest “get” on pregame/analysis shows across the NFL network of shows from now until the next double murder he witnesses and refuses to talk about.

I for one will change the channel every time i see him.

]]>By: viking01http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6855684
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:25:10 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6855684Crystal Mangum pretty much got away with almost Nifonging the Duke Lacrosse Team until she whacked her boyfriend. Meanwhile Zimmerman faces a strong possibility of being Angela Coreyed for Saint Trayvon. It makes one wonder how many purely political targets are doing time because JustUs frequently has an ulterior agenda.
]]>By: IlikedAUH2Ohttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6855677
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 05:22:21 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6855677The fun of sexual blackmail.

Steeler RB Jerome Bettis was a target but the accuser messed up. This was in 2002 or so.

Some people love to turn themselves or even kids into victims and law enforcement loves the salacious.

You can go after a casual date, someone you have know for some time or a husband with a prenuptial you can’t live with. You can even target several guys!

Screaming rape or assault, stalking or even invasion of privacy is such a great way to make money or get flying monkeys after guys a gal doesn’t like that I am waiting for an infomercial or book on the topic. You get a host of helpers with badges all of whom operate on cost plus and report to nobody.

They should cover this subject for boys as part of sex ed in high school. The best part is the fact that he media ignores all the abuse of the system.

The people who got off scott free are all the malicious people who recorded it for laughs and then posted it publicly. They were threatened with child porn charges unless they agreed to testify for the prosecution. It was shameful that the prosecution gave them all deals when what they did to the girl was far far worse (widespread public humiliation) than what the actual defendants did.

kaltes on April 4, 2013 at 8:52 PM

Unbelievable that such an attitude as yours persists. I hope those young men who WERE convicted spend a LOT of time in jail, and have to live as registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

They had the benefit of trial, and of counsel. No one forced them to act as they did.

As for those defending the Steubenville kids, remember — the girl was 16 years old and had no legal ability to consent to anything — much less what they did to her on camera. Their defense of “she didn’t say no” was priceless for its obtuseness and in your face “yes we did and it’s totally legal” reasoning.

unclesmrgol on April 4, 2013 at 11:00 PM

Actually the age of consent in Ohio is 16, so she was legal.

People under 18 have the legal ability to consent. Statutory rape laws are not based on the lack of consent, they make consensual activity illegal. The law recognizes in all 50 states that having sex with a minor who is unconscious is more severe than having sex with one who is conscious and consenting, therefore the law always recognizes that a minor can consent. However, the law makes it a crime despite this consent.

]]>By: Delsahttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6855491
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 03:27:23 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6855491I wish this young man all the luck in the world. He has such grace when he speaks of his experience.
He is owed big time. I pray for him to have great success.
The witch who accused him should be in jail and made to give back every dime she got from the district.
Mr Banks only wanted to go on with his life and I thank the Falcons for giving him the chance.

Yes, I would think a finger would be minor compared to the other possibilities, like foreign objects and penises. A sexual assault could be a single brief contact, or it could be a brutal prolonged one. This is at the bottom of the scale as far as the severity of the assault goes.

]]>By: unclesmrgolhttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/04/ten-years-after-wrongful-conviction-former-high-school-football-star-signs-with-falcons/comment-page-1/#comment-6855435
Fri, 05 Apr 2013 03:00:13 +0000http://hotair.com/?p=253195#comment-6855435There is no comparison between this case and Steubenville. The Stubenville kids can’t claim that they were unfairly accused when they took video of the stunt.

I hope he gets every dime out of the woman who falsely accused him as he can — and one hopes that the school district has another $750,000 sitting around — for what is good for the goose is certainly good for the gander.

As for those defending the Steubenville kids, remember — the girl was 16 years old and had no legal ability to consent to anything — much less what they did to her on camera. Their defense of “she didn’t say no” was priceless for its obtuseness and in your face “yes we did and it’s totally legal” reasoning.